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Episode 121: “Orphan 55” episode artwork

EPISODE · Jan 17, 2020

Episode 121: “Orphan 55”

from Debating Doctor Who · host Allison Shoemaker and Alasdair Wilkins

Allison is busy being a cool person in California, so who should join Alasdair to discuss "Orphan 55" but the great Caroline Siede? Yup, the original duo are back to talk about why this episode had some definite potential but just really didn't work. We dig into how the episode has more ideas and more characters than what it knows what to do with, and how oddly empty the big twist--of about three big twists--ends up feeling. We make a bunch of comparisons to Davies-era episodes, including a very rude comparison to "Midnight" that Alasdair recognizes is going to be deeply unfair to pretty much any episode. We cover a lot of ground here as to why this episode typifies things the Chibnall era is still trying to figure out about itself, and what it already is making good progress on... starting with the Doctor herself.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Jan 17, 2020

What this episode covers

Allison is busy being a cool person in California, so who should join Alasdair to discuss "Orphan 55" but the great Caroline Siede? Yup, the original duo are back to talk about why this episode had some definite potential but just really didn't work. We dig into how the episode has more ideas and more characters than what it knows what to do with, and how oddly empty the big twist--of about three big twists--ends up feeling. We make a bunch of comparisons to Davies-era episodes, including a very rude comparison to "Midnight" that Alasdair recognizes is going to be deeply unfair to pretty much any episode. We cover a lot of ground here as to why this episode typifies things the Chibnall era is still trying to figure out about itself, and what it already is making good progress on... starting with the Doctor herself.

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This episode was published on January 17, 2020.

What is this episode about?

Allison is busy being a cool person in California, so who should join Alasdair to discuss "Orphan 55" but the great Caroline Siede? Yup, the original duo are back to talk about why this episode had some definite potential but just really didn't...

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